[WSIS CS-Plenary] FW: CRIS statement to Social Movements Assembly

[Meryem Marzouki]

Hi Myriam,

Could you please let us know when this Statement will be on-line, and 
if translations are made available ? I'd like to add it to the special 
web page on "Tunisia and WSIS" maintained as part of the human right 
caucus web page 
(http://www.iris.sgdg.org/actions/smsi/hr-wsis/tunis.html).
Thanks,
Meryem

Le mardi, 1 fév 2005, à 10:46 Europe/Paris, Myriam Horngren a écrit :

>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Sburch [mailto:sburch at alainet.org]
> Sent: 31 January 2005 21:13
> To: Wsf-com at comunica.org
> Cc: Myriam Horngren
> Subject: CRIS statement to Social Movements Assembly
>
> CRIS Campaign statement for the Social Movements Assembly - FSM 2005
>
> Communications is a core theme at this year's World Social Forum. It is
> a
> core theme because the demand for a better, more equitable
> communications
> environment is emerging as the demand of a new social movement for
> communication rights.
>
> The information and communications sector has become a strategic part 
> of
> the
> global market economy. It is a sector characterised by gross 
> imbalances:
> increasing concentration of the media, information property rules that
> favour the big corporations, privatisation of the means of
> communication,
> and new technologies of mass surveillance.
>
> There is a growing communications divide between one third of the
> world's
> population with the power to communicate globally, instantaneously and
> the
> other two thirds who barely have access to electricity and for whom the
> Internet is an unknown world.
>
> The campaign for Communication Rights in the Information Society (CRIS)
> believes that communication is a fundamental human right and is
> mobilizing
> around a common agenda for action and has identified a series of
> communication rights priorities for 2005.
>
> 1. We are committed to defending and affirming our communication rights
> and
> freedoms. In the context of the World Summit on the Information Society
> we
> call for a campaign to put the spotlight on communication rights in
> Tunisia,
> the host country for the 2005 Summit. The Tunisian government
> systematically
> violates rights of access to information, freedom of expression, 
> freedom
> of
> association, and respect for privacy.
>
> 2. We are committed to defend communication rights against the harmful
> impact of global free trade and to promote respect for cultural and
> media
> diversity.  We therefore support proposals, under debate in UNESCO, for
> a
> strong international convention to promote and defend cultural
> diversity. We
> will vigorously oppose attempts to include the cultural and media 
> sector
> in
> World  Trade Organisation and other free trade agreements.
>
> 3. We call on social movements to work with us in building a
> communication
> rights movement from the bottom up. We invite local and grassroots
> organisations to join with us to build networks and alliances at
> national,
> regional and international levels to defend and promote communication
> rights.
>
> Calendar of Action
>
> We call on social movements to mobilise around the World Summit on the
> Information Society in Tunis in 16-18 November 2005, to assert "another
> communication is possible" and to defend freedom of expression and 
> human
> rights in Tunisia.
>
> We call on social movements to support a strong convention on cultural
> diversity and to mobilise against the inclusion of culture and media in
> international free trade agreements. We look to build alliances with
> other
> social movements in this struggle, in particular to resist information
> becoming a commodity under the  WTO-GATs-IPR regime.
>
> Dates of particular importance include the UNESCO General Assembly in
> October, WTO Ministerial Meeting Hong Kong December 2005, Summit of the
> Americas, Argentina, November 2005.
>
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